Cyclones survive first-round scare on Schaben walk-off

4A Regional Softball: HCHS 3, Perry 2

 HARLAN (July 11) -- The Harlan Community softball team’s first tournament win in four years was more of a nail-biter than expected, but well worth the wait and the drama.
 Trailing a five-win Perry team 2-0 and down to their last six outs, the Cyclones scored one run in the sixth and two in the seventh - capped by Morgan Schaben’s walk-off RBI single - to rally past the Jayettes 3-2 in a Class 4A first round regional game Thursday at H. Jack Field.
 Sophomore number nine batter Miranda Goetz led off the Cyclone seventh with a walk, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Kate Heithoff’s RBI single up the middle to tie the score at 2-2. Heithoff advanced 60 feet on an errant throw, then tagged and went to third on Aurora Miller’s well-struck fly ball to right.
 Despite two open bases, Perry elected to pitch to Schaben - Harlan’s leader in batting average (.472) and RBI (43) - and paid the price when she lined a hit between shortstop and third to plate the winning run.
 Schaben also pitched a one-hitter for HCHS (28-7) and struck out 16 batters, bringing her career strikeout total to an even 800. The Jayettes, who compete in the rugged Raccoon River Conference, finished 5-24 overall.
 One shaky inning nearly cost the Cyclones Thursday.
 Schaben had retired the first nine Perry batters - eight straight on strikeouts - when eighth-grader Lydia Olejniczak led off the fourth with the Jayettes’ only hit of the game. Kenney followed with a sac bunt and the throw to first sailed high and toward the right field corner. Olejniczak raced to third and continued home when the throw in from right was also off the mark.
 Following another error on Kennedy Tunink’s bunt, Kenney scored on a passed ball to make it 2-0. Perry still had runners at second and third (nobody out), but Schaben was able to avoid further damage by inducing an infield pop-up and striking out the next two batters.
 Schaben, who walked two and hit one batter, was particularly dominant against the lower half of the order as Perry’s 6-through-9 spots combined to go 0-for-11 with 11 Ks.
 HCHS, meanwhile, had at least one base runner in each of the first five innings but never more than one hit. Goetz and Julia Schechinger both finished 2-for-2 on the night.

 
 

 

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